Mount Saint Mary College Athletics

Head Coach Colleen Ames embarks on her third season on the sidelines, and fourth year overall, at Mount Saint Mary in 2022-23.

Ames has led the Mount to 20-plus win seasons in both of her campaigns with the Knights and holds a 44-10 overall record and an impressive 37-3 mark against Skyline Conference rivals. 
 
After the cancelation of the 2020-21 season due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Ames and the Knights returned to the court and posted the program’s fourth straight 20-win season. The Knights rolled through conference play, losing just once, before claiming the program’s 13th Skyline Conference Championship with a Final victory over USMMA.
 
At the completion of the season, Ames was named the Skyline Conference Coach of the Year and saw mentees Morina Bojka, Katie Smith and Toriana Tabasco recognized with postseason honors by the conference. Bojka, who scored her 1,000th career points in 2021-22, was tabbed the conference’s Player of the Year, Second Team All-Region III by D3Hoops.com, Second Team All-ECAC and First Team All-Met Writers. Smith was made a Second Team All-Skyline Conference selection and Tabasco was named a Co-Defensive Player of the Year by the league’s coaches.
 
Ames guided the Knights to their 15^th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and produced the Knights’ seventh ever victory in the National Tournament with a come-from-behind 57-54 win at Johns Hopkins.
 
 
In her first season with the Knights in 2019-20, Ames guided the Mount to its third straight 20-win season, posting an 18-2 mark in Skyline Conference play. The Knights finished the regular season in a first place tie in the league standings and earned the top seed in the 2020 Skyline Conference Championship Tournament.
 
Under Ames’ tutelage, junior Morina Bojka had a breakout season, finishing the year second in the Skyline Conference in scoring (18.3 ppg) on her way to being named First Team All-Skyline Conference and Second Team All-Met Writers Association. In addition, sophomore Annie Keenan landed on the Skyline’s Second Team after averaging 11.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest. 

Most recently, Ames was the interim head coach at Clarkson University during the 2018-19 season after being the assistant coach the year prior. As the interim head coach, she picked up seven conference wins in the Liberty League.

She also spent the 2016-17 season as a volunteer assistant coach with SUNY New Paltz, who went 20-9 and won their second straight SUNYAC title, reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawks defeated #16 Bowdoin as well as host Ithaca in the Ithaca regional to make the Sweet 16.

Prior to joining the coaching staff at New Paltz, Ames played two seasons with the Hawks, scoring 407 points and knocking down 82 three pointers. She also grabbed 177 rebounds, dished out 45 assists and added 45 steals in her New Paltz career. Ames also played for two years at the NCAA Division II level with St. Thomas Aquinas.

Said Ames "I am fortunate and honored to take on this position. I am very excited to bring this team to even further success."

Before her time in the college coaching ranks, Ames was an assistant women's basketball coach for the Long Island Lightning AAU organization for five years. She assisted in on-court fundamentals and skills as well as assisting athletes finding and selecting colleges.

Ames graduated from SUNY New Paltz in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and has recently earned her master's degree in business administration from Clarkson.